Bernard Bresslaw

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bernard Bresslaw (born February 25, 1934 in Stepney , † June 11, 1993 in London ) was a British actor .

theatre

Bresslaw was born the son of a tailor in Stepney, East London. He already showed acting talent in school performances, so that he finally received a municipal scholarship for an acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as one of two annual winners of the London County Council Awards . As one of the most talented students of his age, he received the Emile Littler Award for the most promising young actor.

When Laurence Olivier , who was preparing a theater production of MacRoary Whirl , met Bresslaw in search of an actor for the role of an Irish wrestler, he engaged the actor with the imposing height of 2.01 m. Nevertheless, the following theater engagements Bresslaws were not crowned with success: A London theater production of Bachelor's Honeymoon was so unsuccessful that it was taken off the program after just three performances. In later years he turned back to the stage and was able to celebrate successes in the Old Vic as a leading actor in a production of Oblomov . He was v. a. Known in tragicomic roles such as "Quince" in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night 's Dream and as "Professor" in Eugène Ionesco's The Lesson .

watch TV

In 1954, Bresslaw made his television debut in an episode of the television series Men of Sherwood Forrest starring Don Taylor as " Robin Hood ". For three years he got the role with which he became popular in his home country: In the comedy The Army Game he played the dumb private "Popeye" Popplewell with a Cockney accent, whose obligatory saying "Well, I only arsked!" In England It became a popular quote in the 50s and 60s , and Bresslaw even made record hits and a TV special called I Only Arsked! helped. In order to avoid being tied to this role cliché, Bresslaw embodied only a few stereotypical characters in the following years. He took on another series role in 1961 for the comedy Our House , which came from the pen of Norman Hudis and in which Bresslaw, Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey were part of the regular cast. He also made guest appearances in popular series such as Dr. Who , Z Cars and The Goodies as well as in sketch shows with Terry Scott and Eric Sykes .

Movie

From 1954 Bresslaw initially only played minor roles in films such as the Hammer Productions horror film The Demon with the Bloody Hands , The Lavender Hill Mob with Alec Guinness and the comedies as well as The Glass Cage and Too Many Crooks (with Terry-Thomas ). In 1965, Bresslaw returned to the comic field with a role as the chief's son "Little Heap" in Gerald Thomas ' western parody Carry on Cowboy . In a total of 17 films of Thomas and Peter Rogers realized Carry on ... he played series mostly good-natured, naive and clumsy characters, often as a partner and counterpoint to Sidney James , with whom he already in The Glass Cage and Too Many Crooks ago stood in front of the camera. In this constellation he played leading roles in Carry on Doctor , Carry on Camping , Carry on Matron and Carry on Girls . Bresslaw also played in other films in the series Parodies of the Butler "Lurch" from the Comedy Addams Family ( Carry On Screaming ) as well as in several Christmas specials in the Frankenstein Monster series , "Bob Cratchitt" from Charles Dickens ' Christmas story and Little John from the Robin Hood stories.

Bresslaw's other film productions include the drama Herring and Port Wine (starring James Mason ), the Disney comedy Who Stole Our Dinosaur? (with Peter Ustinov ), Tony Richardson's adventure of Joseph Andrews , the period film The Secret of the Iron Mask (with Beau Bridges and Ursula Andress ), the monumental film parody Her with the Roman Slaves (with Frankie Howerd ), the horror comedy Vampira ( with David Niven ), Jabberwocky (by and with Terry Gilliam , Michael Palin and Terry Jones ) and the science fiction B-movie Bandits on the Moon . In the fantasy films Guardian of the Magic Sword and Krull , he embodied a good-natured and brave giant, with the Cyclops Rell portrayed by him finding death in Krull . Bresslaw's last film production was the satire Leon the Pig Farmer (1993).

music

In 1958, while working on the television series The Army Game , Bresslaw recorded the title song of the series ( The Signature Tune of "The Army Game" ) with Michael Medwin , Leslie Fyson and Alfie Bass , which sold well in England and reached number 5 in the charts reached. In the same year he produced the joke song Mad Passionate Love , which reached number 6. Also You Need Feet , a parody of Max Bygraves ' You Need Hands achieved success in the British radio stations.

Private

In 1959 Bresslaw married the dancer Betty Wright , with whom he had three sons.

In 1993 he died of a heart attack while preparing a production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in London's Regent's Park at the age of only 59 . He was in the Golders Green Crematorium in London cremated , where his ashes is located.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bresslaw, Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 25, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Stepney
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1993
Place of death London